INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the Peninsula Arts Spring Season.
The theme of this season is Alchemy.
There is perhaps no better description of alchemy
than that expressed by Philip Gardiner and Gary
Osborn, in their book, ‘The Serpent Grail’:
“Alchemy is said to be a sublime mixture of philosophy
and science – a unification of our understanding of the
universe and life from a human point of view. It has
been practised for centuries, perhaps even thousands
of years. It is said to work on both the physical and
metaphysical level, being both a practical and
psychological method of attaining immortality …”
The exhibition in the Cube3 gallery, ‘Alchemy: the
Art & Science of Transformation’, will contextualise
and visualise the diverse cultural backgrounds from
the ancient to the contemporary in a thought
provoking way.The accompanying lecture programme
brings together a wide range of speakers, including
internationally renowned writers Colin Wilson,
Lindsay Clark and Peter Marshall. The programme
will round off with a grand alchemical entertainment
which will include music, readings and songs.
April sees the first Colloquium on the work of
Robert Lenkiewicz; fittingly as he was deeply
interested in alchemy. Amongst the speakers will
be Professor Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke from the
Centre for the Study of Western Esotericism at
Exeter University and Linda Gilroy MP.
Writers, Rod Mengham and Matt Harvey will
present readings for the Peninsula Arts Literature
Series and the eagerly awaited Wine Appreciation
Course run by the world’s youngest Wine Master,
Liam Steevenson runs throughout February and
March that concludes with a visit to the Sharpham
Vineyard near Totnes.
The Ten Tors Orchestra, the resident professional
orchestra of Peninsula Arts is strongly featured in
a music programme that also includes the University
Orchestra and Choral Society, the debut concert
of the new youth ensemble South West Camerata,
the Plymouth Chamber Music Series and Plymouth
Folk Festival.
The season’s music highlight is the Peninsula Arts
Contemporary Music Festival 2006,VOICES.
The weekend festival of performances, lectures
and workshops explores contemporary music for
“voices” and showcases computer music research
at University of Plymouth presented by Professor
Eduardo R Miranda and Dr John Matthias. Featured
visiting composers and performers include Kate
and Mike Westbrook, Frances M Lynch and Karen
Wimhurst.
We hope that you will find participating in these
events as exciting and exhilarating as we have in
planning them.
Mike Hope
Director of Arts and Exhibitions
Simon Ible
Director of Music
Simon Ible and Mike Hope
Introduction
Peninsula Arts | Exhibition and Lecture Programme | January to April 2006
Exhibitions
Peninsula Arts | Exhibition and Lecture Programme | January to April 2006
EXHIBITIONS
ALCHEMY:THE ART AND SCIENCE
OF TRANSFORMATION
MONDAY 30 JANUARY – FRIDAY 7 APRIL
Cube3 Gallery, Portland Square, North Hill,
University of Plymouth
Monday – Saturday
10.00am – 6.00pm
Please note that on Saturdays entry is via the
Portland Square main entrance (left hand door) only.
Alchemy is a very ancient discipline and yet highly
relevant today. Its promise of transmuting base
metal into gold and of prolonging life indefinitely has
attracted some of the greatest thinkers, writers and
artists throughout the ages, including St Thomas
Aquinas, Hieronymus Bosch, Paracelsus, Newton and
Jung. Closely allied to magic, the occult and astrology,
it is one of world’s deepest mysteries and best kept
secrets. It not only holds up the tantalising prospect
of attaining immortality and enlightenment but has
had a profound influence on science, medicine,
religion, philosophy, psychology, literature,
architecture and art.
The exhibition, with its accompanying series of
lectures, will present a celebration of alchemy as the
art and science of transformation in all its aspects.
With words, images and music, it will offer a fiery
crucible of sacred wisdom with an important
message for our time.
It is fitting that the Portland Square Building which is
home to not only the Peninsula Medical School and
the Faculty of Science should, through the Cube3
Gallery, host a varied exhibition which attempts to
explore the multi-layered visual world of Alchemy.
Picture opposite: A visual metaphor for alchemy.The colour represents the transformation of base metal to gold.The Chinese characters mean ‘alchemy’.
Pronunciation: liann jin shyr left character - to smelt, to refine middle character - gold, metal right character - master, teacher
Exhibitions
Peninsula Arts | Exhibition and Lecture Programme | January to April 2006
Exhibition Lectures
Peninsula Arts | Exhibition and Lecture Programme | January to April 2006
ALCHEMY: THE ART & SCIENCE OF
TRANSFORMATION LECTURE SERIES
All lectures: Free admission – unreserved seating
THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE:
A QUEST FOR THE SECRETS OF ALCHEMY
Plymouth Lecture Theatre
Portland Square Building
TUESDAY 7 FEBRUARY | 6.30PM
Peter Marshall
Helen Elwes
After years of study, Peter Marshall set off on a
worldwide quest to discover the Philosopher’s
Stone.The Holy Grail of alchemy allegedly holds the
key not only to making gold but to unlocking the
door of eternal life.Travelling to China, India, Egypt
and throughout Europe, he discovered that alchemy
formed a powerful underground stream in ancient
societies and is still very much alive. In his talk, he
will explore alchemy as a universal phenomenon
and show how it evolved as a discipline in Europe
from the Middle East. He will also share some of
the startling revelations he unravelled during his
exciting physical, intellectual and spiritual journey.
Peter Marshall is a historian, philosopher, poet and
travel writer. His highly acclaimed works have been
translated into 14 languages.They include The
Philosopher’s Stone, World Astrology, Demanding the
Impossible: A History of Anarchism, Nature’s Web:
Rethinking our Place on Earth and Riding the Wind: A
New Philosophy for a New Era. His circumnavigation
of Africa was made into a six-part TV series and his
voyage around Ireland into a BBC radio series.
He has a doctorate in the History of Ideas and has
taught philosophy and literature at several British
universities. He can be found on the web at
www.petermarshall.net
THE INNER WORK OF ALCHEMY
Plymouth Lecture Theatre
Portland Square Building
Plymouth Lecture Theatre
Portland Square Building
TUESDAY 21 FEBRUARY | 6.30PM
Jay Ramsay
Rubedo – The Winged
Hermaphrodite – The Royal
marriage of Sol and Luna
Jay Ramsay is a poet, UKCP psychospiritual
therapist, and healer in private practice in Stroud
and London NW3. Author and co-editor of over
30 books including a bestselling co-translation of
the Tao Te Ching (Vega, 2002), his most recent is
The Heart’s Ragged Evangelist (PS Avalon, 2005),
a selection of love poems designed to be read
alongside Crucible of Love. He is currently poet
in residence at St James’ Church, Piccadilly, London;
and lives in Stroud with his fiancée, the artist and
dance teacher Lara Fiedler.
CRUCIBLE OF LOVE – ALCHEMY FOR NOW
TUESDAY 14 FEBRUARY | 6.30PM
Coagulatio – Sol touches
the Moon Tree
inspiring our aesthetic sensibility creatively, Jay will
consider what alchemy uniquely (and prophetically)
through Sol, Luna and Mercurius has to teach us
about our sexual and love relationships – and why
that is so relevant to us now. Copies of his
groundbreaking Crucible of Love – the alchemy
of passionate relationships, with its Foreword by
Lindsay Clarke (O Books, 2005) will be available.
As well as considering alchemy as a permanent
frame of reference describing our deepest
processes emotionally and psychologically, and
Cherry Gilchrist
Alchemy is a mysterious and complex theme, with a
history stretching for over 2000 years. Its avowed
aim is the quest to make gold, but this is in fact as
much a search for inner transformation as a
material goal.The alchemist wants to be a witness
to the wonders of creation, and to create the
spiritual gold of the soul.This richly illustrated talk
follows the theme of the inner work of alchemy
through powerful emblems and evocative symbols,
illuminating some of the principles of The Great
Work as an active path of personal evolution.
SENSING FUSION – THE ALCHEMICAL
LEONARDO AND OTHERS
Cherry Gilchrist is the author of The Elements of
Alchemy and Everyday Alchemy, as well as many
other books on inner traditions, myth and culture.
She lives in Bath, where she is currently studying
for an MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology.
Professor Edward Cowie
IMAGINATION, CREATIVITY
& THE CONIUNCTIO
Plymouth Lecture Theatre
Portland Square Building
TUESDAY 28 FEBRUARY | 6.30PM
Lindsay Clarke
A consideration of alchemy as the paradigm of the
creative process by which something new gets made
for life through the reconciliation of opposing forces.
The talk will be illustrated by reference to the
writing of my novels.
LINDSAY CLARKE is an Associate Lecturer in
Creative Writing at the University of Wales, Cardiff,
and author of six novels, including The Chymical
Wedding which won the Whitbread Fiction Prize.
Plymouth Lecture Theatre
Portland Square Building
TUESDAY MARCH 7 | 6.30PM
From the base-material(s) of creation, what happens
if an art-maker fuses forms and processes from the
sciences with the arts?
Edward Cowie, explores the visionary and transdisciplinary mind and works of Leonardo da Vinci.
Leonardo, it seems, practised (as well as preached!)
an alchemical philosophy based on what Leibnitz
later described as ‘a matter of all things connecting’.
Cowie’s own creative output (his music especially) is
also based on a fusion between Arts and Sciences.
Like Leonardo, he tests, distils and synthesises ‘basematter’ (via a set of inter-sensual catalysts) into new
form(s). His is a method (and a faith) that calls-back
a favourite maxim of Michelangelo, ‘no man or
woman is complete unless all the senses work
together and to the maximum’.
Edward Cowie is an internationally renowned
composer, author, painter, writer, conductor and
musician. His career as a composer has included
premieres at the proms (Leviathan) 1976. He is
currently the first Composer in Association with
the BBC Singers and the first Artist in Residence
with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
He has written and presented a number of television
and radio programmes both here and in Australia,
including the acclaimed 1986 film for BBC2 on
Leonardo. He has painted and exhibited around
the world for the last thirty years. He has lectured
widely including the Ruskin Lecture at Oxford.
He is currently Research Professor in Arts &
Natural Sciences at Dartington College of Arts
HIERONYMUS BOSCH AND ALCHEMY
Plymouth Lecture Theatre
Portland Square Building
TUESDAY 14 MARCH | 6.30PM
Robert Bohumil Vurm
The lecture will explore aspects of the meaning and
work of Bosch as a painter of the human (European)
soul; the transformation of matter and soul (e.g.
Paracelsus); Symbols of Tarot in Bosch’s paintings;
Bosch, Rosicrucians and the New World;The Garden
of Earthly Delights as the Holy Grail Garden and the
continuing fascination with Bosch’s paintings.
Robert B.Vurm is a writer, publisher and exhibition
organiser.
At present time he is the executive director of
“Praga Mystica Company” and author of the
multimedia travelling exhibitions called The Beauties
and the Secrets of the Czech Republic held under the
auspices of the EU ambassador to the Czech
Republic which was shown in all major Czech cities
within three years.The last leg of the exhibition just
finished in Prague (30th October 2005).
Exhibition Lectures
Peninsula Arts | Exhibition and Lecture Programme | January to April 2006
Exhibition Lectures
Peninsula Arts | Exhibition and Lecture Programme | January to April 2006
He is also the chairman of the board of the
Hieronymus Foundation which is devoted to the
promotion of the work of Hieronymus Bosch.
The most prestigious project of the Foundation
to date was the restoration of the famous triptych
The Garden of Earthly Delights in cooperation with
Prado Museum, Madrid, during 1998-1999.
He is the author of the exhibition Praga Mystica –
History, Myths and Symbols as a part of the project
“Prague 2000 – European City of Culture”. He also
co-organised the international exhibition of
Hieronymus Bosch works in cooperation with
Boymans-Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam,
as part of the project Rotterdam 2001 – European
City of Culture.
Philosopher’s Stone are the same, metaphors for
spiritual enlightenment.
maintained in the public consciousness by the most
powerful propaganda machine of Western civilisation.
Throughout history the serpent image has been
associated with evil but for the first time the true
nature of these beliefs can be revealed.
Mike is Director of Arts & Exhibitions at Peninsula
Arts at the University of Plymouth. He moved to
the University of Plymouth in September 1999 as
the Head of Exeter School of Arts & Design.
Philip Gardiner is the best selling author of The
Shining Ones, The Serpent Grail and Gnosis: The Secret
of Solomon's Temple Revealed. He lectures and gives
seminars on ancient wisdom across the world as
well as TV and radio appearances. He holds a
degree in Strategic Marketing and nine diplomas
in various subjects ranging from management to
holistic medicine and languages. More information
can be found at www.philipgardiner.net
THE SECRET OF THE SERPENT ALCHEMISTS
ALCHEMY IN FILM: RAIDERS OF THE
CELLULOID VISION
Plymouth Lecture Theatre
Portland Square Building
Plymouth Lecture Theatre
Portland Square Building
TUESDAY 21 MARCH | 6.30PM
TUESDAY 28 MARCH | 6.30PM
Philip Gardiner
Mike Hope
The story of a serpent-worshipping cult is repeated
across the ancient world. Its symbolism is constantly
present throughout the myths and rituals in all
major religions and forms the basis for the ‘Elixir of
Life’ and the vessel which was at the very heart of
the ceremonials became the ‘Grail’.
The argument can be taken one stage further in
considering that The Grail, the Elixir of Life and the
Film, during the 20th century, has in its western guise,
provided a multitude of films which are either wholly
or partially inspired by the concepts of hermetic
thought and the alchemical tradition. Most recently
these include films as diverse as She, the Indiana Jones
Trilogy, The Name of the Rose, Excalibur, and Harry
Potter. What is certain is that the concepts and
traditions behind alchemical thought have been
He has amassed a wealth of experience within the
field of higher education, teaching, researching and
administrating at a number of universities. Before this
he worked in London in the Royal Institute of British
Architects, Drawings Collection. He has also worked
as a freelance designer for the past 25 years.
He has an extensive publication record, including six
counties of the Churches and Chapels of England,
published by A&C Black, a book on Hampshire
villages and a number of articles and chapters on
multimedia and multimedia education.
Upper Lecture Theatre, Sherwell Centre
TUESDAY APRIL 4 | 6.30PM
Colin Wilson
Colin Wilson is a highly acclaimed international best
selling author with over 100 books to his name. At
the age of 24 he shot to fame with ‘The Outsider’.
He has written extensively in the fields of
archaeology, astronomy, cosmology and philosophy.
Titles have included Aleister Crowley: The Image of
the Beast, The Occult Trilogy, The Occult – A History,
Strange Powers, From Atlantis to the Sphinx and The
Atlantis Blueprint.